My Husband and I moved to South Korea to teach English as a Foreign Language. In America we loved trying out lots of new recipes. When we arived in Korea I discoved that we did not have a stove and I no longer had all my spices or fun cooking gadgets I enjoyed at home. This blog is about the American recipes that we cook in Korea.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I was bugging Chris one night to find us a snack. I usually have only one rule when it comes to snacks: it must always involve chocolate. One night we were almost completely out of chocolate (yes, my world was coming to an end) and Chris came up with this quick and simple snack.

1 banana
2 tablespoons of Nestquick chocolate milk powder

Split the banana in half long ways and place it on a plate

Sprinkle the banana with the chocolate powder

Place the banana in the freezer for 15 minutes until chilled.

The first time we made this we froze the banana competly and it was to hard to bite into. We have also tried it without putting it in the freezer and came to the conclution that 15 minutes is just enough to chill it.

Spaghetti is one of the easier items to make while you are in Korea. I found all of the ingredients at Lotte Mart. Here are some tips to save money. First decided which sauce you want to use. I didn't care for the flavor of the Korean spaghetti sauce so I bought the American one. The difference is about 3,000 won. So try the Korean sauce and see if you like it. I also tried Hines Original Spaghetti sauce in a packet and it was very plain. I tried it because it was only 1,000 won. I like the Rinaldi Sauce the best. I find it ironic that it is what I use in Korea, because I used to buy it in America and it was the cheapest jar. Now it is the most expensive. Another way so save money on sauce is to buy the Costco giant-sized plastic container of Prego Sauce. It is large enough for about three meals. This works if you have the freezer space for the left overs.

You can make your spaghetti right from the jar. Sometimes I use the jar and add some of my own seasonings like oregano and fennel. You can also make your own spaghetti sauce in the Crock pot. I will post a link when I decide to make that version of it. I only recently found canned tomatoes. They don't have them at Lotte Mart but I found them at Home Plus. I will have to check out the prices and see if it is worth making your own.

For the meat you can buy the hamburger at LotteMart or you can get it at Costco. It is cheaper to buy it at Costco. We buy a large pack sperate it into 1/2 lb servings, place them in individul zip lock bags, put all the smaller bags in a larger freezer zip lock and place them in the freezer.

When I first started making salmon I tried all kind of recipes from different cook books. I added different spices and tried it BBQed and even in foil packets. Finally not long after we were married Chris admitted that he just preferred his salmon cooked plain. So here is the world's simplest salmon recipe.

We try to eat salmon once a week. When we were in America we bought indually frozen packets of Atlantic salmon from Costco. Unforutally due to import taxes the price is doubled at the Costco in Korea and we could no longer justify purchasing it. Not long after this disappointment I found the seafood section at Lottemart. They have fresh salmon steaks for reasonable prices.

2 large fresh salmon steaks
Season salt

Sprinkle an unheated skillet with season salt

Place salmon steaks on top of the season salt

Turn the burner on medium

Sprinkle season salt on the top side of the steaks

Cook for 5 to 7 minites until the salmon is cooked 3/4 of the way on the edge then turn it

Cook on second side for about 4 to 6 minutes

Serve with rice. We sometimes sprinkle the leftover salmon juice on white rice.

Growing up I often enjoyed packages of ramen noodles for lunch. When I went away to college I started to learn all kinds of variations and ways to fancy up this bacholor meal. Ramen noodles are very popular in Korea. I am amazed at the large selection of different types of ramen packages that you can find in Korea. My husband created the following recipe. Why? Well if any recipe does not have meat in it Chris finds a way to add it.

2 packages of instant Ramen noodles of your choose
2 slices of steak or cut up beef in cubes
Salt or season salt
2 Tbs of butter

Open the ramen package and set aside the season and dried vegetable packets.

Cook the noodles for about 7 minutes or until the desired doneness. Do not overcook them or they will be soggy.

While the noodles are cooking heat a large skillet.

Add the cubed beef to the skillet and sprinkle with season salt or regular salt

Cook stiring constantly until the meat is brown and no longer pink inside.

When the noodles are done drain the water from them.

Toss the noodles with butter and the seasoning packet in a bowl.

Add the meat to the noodle mixture and enjoy.

We have made this recipe with several variations. Sometimes we do not buy cubed steak. Instead we buy regular steaks cook them and eat the noodles with butter as a side dish. When we were in America we made a similar dish and also added frozen vegetables.

We do not use the extra dried vegetables packages that come with Korean ramen. Since we drain the water they do not get soft enough. I save them to put in soups later.

Chris likes the spicy noodles and I like the mild ones. To solve this problem we boil the two packs of noodles together and them mix them with the spice packets separately.